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The Activist Toolkit Blog

The Activist Toolkit Blog is the place to catch up on what's new with the Toolkit. With weekly roundups of newly added tools, highlights of featured tools and extra multimedia content, you'll get up to date info on grassroots organizing. Check out the full activist toolkit at rabble.ca/toolkit.

Revolution 101: How to be a settler ally

Idle no more opened an exciting new chapter in Indigenous organizing, but as Krystalline Kraus said in her piece on indigenous protest: "Indigenous communities across Turtle Island have not been idle -- they have been resisting colonialism since the first European boats washed up all desperate and hungry on North and South American shores."

This perception of Idle No More is all too often a result of "allies" failing to educate themselves. Understanding the long and important history of indigenous resistance is a good place to start unlearning for settlers. The legacy of Turtle Island's colonial history is inescapable, from generational violence that started at first contact to centuries old legislation that still holds power over Indigenous peoples' daily lives.

But knowledge alone isn't enough. Settlers need to be active without piggybacking on direct actions, looking for token Indigenous involvement or laying claim to struggles that aren't their own. Instead, settlers can be effective allies by decolonizing their own organizing frameworks. Here are a few quick tools to introduce non-Indigenous activists to allyship.

These tools are by no means exhaustive. This roundup is intended as a starting point for further discussion. Let us know what tools we missed, what you want to see on the Activist Toolkit and how you decolonize your activism in the comments.